Librivox recording of The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry.

The Gift of the Magi is an O. Henry short story in which a young couple are very much in love with each other but can barely afford their one-room apartment. For Christmas, they each make a sacrifice to purchase a gift for the other, with ironic results.

The moral of the story is that physical possessions, however valuable they may be, are of little value in the grand scheme of things. The true unselfish love that the characters, Jim and Della, share is greater than their possessions.

O. Henry ends the story by clarifying the metaphor between the characters in the story, Della and James (or Jim), and the Biblical Magi. The Gift of the Magi features O. HenryÂs characteristic twist ending and use of flowery diction.(Summary adapted from Wikipedia.org)

Read by Betsie Bush

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This audio is part of the collection: The LibriVox Free Audiobook Collection
It also belongs to collections: Audio Books & Poetry; Community Audio

Artist/Composer: O. Henry
Date: 2005-12-09
Source: Librivox recording of Gutenberg e-text #7256
Label / Recorded by: Librivox
Keywords: Christmas; literature; audiobook

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Anupam - - December 27, 2005
Subject: A beautiful narration of an exquisitely beautiful story
That was a beautiful narration of one of the most beautiful and may I add, quite unconventional, love stories of all time. The listener will love this as much as the reader will enjoy this timeless tale!